Retired New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor was a monster during his tenure with the team.
From 1981-1990, L.T. earned multiple awards every season including 10 Pro Bowl appearances, First Team All-Pro honors, Second Team All-Pro honors, was a six-time Defensive Player of the Year, and more.
When Taylor was on the field, quarterbacks knew it. And if they didn’t, they learned pretty quickly what a threat L.T. was.
Taylor was aggressive. He was mean. He knew his job and he did it well. But if he were to play in today’s NFL, 30 years after he retired, how would his game translate?
Not well.
Taylor was recently asked about that on the Let’s Go! podcast with Tom Brady and Jim Gray.
“I don’t think I could finish a game nowadays,” Taylor said, via Newsday. “Because of the rules.”
The NFL has made a multitude of rule changes over the last decade, mostly for player safety, and the game has changed quite a bit. It’s no longer the grind it out, play through the pain, sacrifice everything on the field kind of game. Today’s NFL is more finesse, more speed, and more technical skill sets.
Perhaps more noteworthy, it’s a far less violent game, which is something that helped Taylor excel in the 1980s and 1990s.
“I like the era that I played in because if I was playing nowadays, I probably wouldn’t last the game,” he said. “Have you ever known me to conform to anything? I would get thrown out. It’d been hard for me to play. I may have ended the season owing them money (in fines).”
Taylor’s Hall of Fame career changed the way offenses looked at defenses. It changed the way defenses attacked opponents. But he would likely get flagged on most plays in today’s game.
